Galatoire's Remoulade Blanc

The April 2014 issue of Saveur Magazine primarily focuses on what they call "coastal cooking" (in other words, recipes heavy on seafood) and, since we reside in a coastal state a mere 10 miles from the Gulf of Mexico as the crow flies, I took particular interest in the associated articles. Special attention is given to the seaside cuisines of Croatia, St.-Pierre & Miquelon (a pair of small islands off the coast of Newfoundland that are French protectorates), and the Oregon coast; however, it was a small writeup on versions of shrimp remoulade commonly found in New Orleans that started my cooking juices flowing. For those of you unfamiliar, shrimp remoulade consists of medium-sized cooked shrimp in a zesty sauce that is either white (i.e., mayonnaise-based, more common in early-20th Century French gastronomy) or red (i.e., spicy mustard and paprika-based, first conceived at Arnaud's Restaurant in New Orleans around 1920) served on a bed of fresh lettuce. When my neighbor invited us over one Friday afternoon to eat up some leftover pork ribs he'd made in his smoker and I needed an appetizer to bring by, this was the dish that immediately came to mind. Although my initial preference was to make the red remoulade, my local Winn-Dixie didn't carry the Creole mustard (Zatarain's is the brand specifically mentioned in the magazine) that comprises the bulk of the red sauce, so I opted for the white version, which uses just a tad of mustard (I was able to substitute Dijon for the Creole). The recipe itself is provided courtesy of Galatoire's (open on Bourbon Street since 1905), where the house shrimp remoulade is still found on the menu today. Combining the ingredients (Duke's Mayo, Dijon mustard, dry white wine, lemon juice, horseradish, parsley, cayenne, white pepper, scallions, and salt) and pouring the resulting sauce onto the already shelled, cooked, and deveined shrimp was a breeze, but I felt like it needed a little flavor boost, so I doubled up on the cayenne and white pepper. Later on, we plopped the coated shrimp onto some iceberg lettuce, added another healthy pinch of salt, and our pre-bbq snack was ready to go, enjoyed by all of the adults present and none of the children. I'm anxious to try the red version of this dish and will be on the lookout for Creole mustard - if any of you good readers have a line on some, please feel free to send it my way...